▶ Your Answer : Both the lecture and the reading hold different positions, respectively, on the issue of the cause of K-T extinction. The lecture's argument is formed around many points that are in direct contrast to the material in the reading passage.
First, the lecture argues that K-T extinction was caused by asteroid collision rather than a large amount of volcanic activities. According to the lecture, massive craters in India indicate the evidence of asteroid collision. This rebuts the reading which suggests that many volcanic activities shown in the case of the Deccan traps in India are primary cause of K-T extincion.
Second, in to the lecture, Dust and ash collected from K-T extincion period provide essential evidence of the fact that there were no such volcanic activities in that time. Since volcanic activities do not release irridium dust particle and Dust and ash found in that period contains irridium dust particles, this shows that K-T extinction was not resulted from volcanic activity. In fact, asteroid contains high concentration of irridium composition. Therefore, this challenges the reading's point that volcanic dust and ash blocked out the sun and this leads itself to the climate changes which made a lot of species extinct.
Lastly, the lecture concludes by contending that K-T extinction and volcanic activity did not occured at the same time. According to the professor, volcanic activities took place millions of years, however, K-T extinction occured just few thousands years ago. This shows that they did not occured simultaneously. Therefore, this disproves the reading's claim that K-T extinction and massive volcanic activities are deeply related to each other. |